SCS (SISPEC) FAQ
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hi Audiophile, you crossed over from ASLC with golden bayonet and got Coy best in BSLC. The confusing thing is, why couldn't you crossover from BSLC instead?
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Originally posted by Audiophile:
Hi,
I am a SISPEC Crossover to OCS. I was awarded the Golden Bayonet in ASLC and Coy Best in BSLC.
In OCS i was nominated for award but i didnt get any. But its alright.
Anyway, honestly, the training in the SAF is generally very safe and noone should really have to be overly concerned for safety matters. Just pay attention to the briefing and pay attention when bullets are flying then you’ll be cool. This is not withstanding if there is a moron around you that does dangerous things ofcourse.
Section Live Firing, Platoon Live Firing are very tame events. The procedure is so set in stone that the likelihood that anything will happen is slim to none. I have done it twice the amount an average commander trainee would have to on account that i have been through SISPEC and OCS and its a really dull affair. I got bored during the second time. Especially since there is a dry rehearsal, then a blank rehearsal and finally a live rehearsal plus another one for night (atleast for SISPEC).
Also, for those wondering, which is tougher, SISPEC is tougher hands down.
I was from one of the most laid back company in SISPEC, and went to one of the toughest wings in OCS but, SISPEC is tougher hands down.
SISPEC is tactical all the way in the outfield. Meaning when you go outfield training, the moment you get out of the tonner, you’ve got to behave as in you are in the enemy can be around. Totally no nonsense. You only get a break when it is all over. The longest i have had to endure this was in taiwan for a continuous 7 days.
This means that even when its time to sleep, you have to maintain the alert ratio as per ordered. usually 50:50. This was even during the rain (the temperature was 5 degrees that night) and we still had to carry on with the mission. It was the single most physically and mentally toughest things i had to go through in the Army.In OCS, its alot of symbolic and theatrical bullshit. I am not saying that i am ashamed to be an officer. But OCS doesn’t do training like SISPEC does.
In OCS’s toughest experince for me, was in taiwan (again, though in the summer now), it was a 5 day exercise, but in between mission we can have a tactical break (that means you can just chill) at one point we were sleeping on top of an open hill with all our equipments scattered around me. I’m not especially proud of this, but if you’re in rome.I just get a little upset when officers behave like they are better than specialists. Cos the truth of the matter is that the best specialist is better than every other officer. And officers like to brag about going through the tough trainings of OCS, without knowing that SISPEC is tough too, and much more so.
Cheers.
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Very interesting comment, audiophile.
I always thought OCS was tougher than SISPEC. Now that you have given me better insights between the 2 command schools, it is without doubt that I am proud to be a NSF specialist.
I am sure OCS cadets too have lots to be proud of, but at this moment, I am proud that I survived the trainings and 32km route marches with my OC and PC. They were the ones with made me give it my all, and then somemore.
2005 was a year to be remembered; for it was the camaderadie I had with my platoon mates and the arduous trainings with my commando instructors.
Singaporeans are not born for war and most of them do not see their future in the army. Young Singaporeans want to be professionals, to work, to enjoy life- to live.
However, the ongoing threats and fear that a war might break out between neighbouring countries compels Singaporean youths during his national service, with all its difficulties, to ask himself questions which affect his own existence.
Great challenges stand before him. By virtue of our state, he must sacrifice his individualism and his personal life, and become one of many; to prevent the annihilation of Singapore and guarantee her existence.
The story of Singaporean men once they reach the age of 18 tells us how much they have sacrificed for their nation. It is without doubt that I am proud to say that I have served my country to protect its sovereignty.
References: Avigdor Kahalani, (1999) A Warrior's Way. Steimatzky.
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Culture Counter, the reason that i couldnt cross over is a little complicated. And cannot really be discussed here.
Just know that it is background issue and it was not worth the hassle to clear me of it during BSLC probably. But i understand the reasons for it even though it was unfair.
As it was, i was platoon best in my BMTC and i managed to get a peek into my scores and stuff and i actually scored better than some people who got posted to OCS even then.
But being in SISPEC is great. The wealth of knowlegde a warrant officer can provide, especially in operational matters, is much better than what the Officers in OCS can provide. True, there are Warrant Officers and other specialist (SSG and MSG) there, but they seemed to be put in the shadow of the Officers.
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I think I would have made a great officer..Haha.
I wanted to enter SISPEC instead of OCS when I was in BMT. I was asked by my PS and PC whether I was aiming for OCS and I said no. In the survey form, I indicated I strongly wanted to enter SISPEC and put 'no' to OCS. My PS towards the end of BMT told me, 'You should have aimed for OCS, but since you indicated really wanted SISPEC, I shall make you 'suffer' in SISPEC.. Haha'. At that moment, I knew I would be entering SISPEC.
I had a family background of officers, I was the only one who was a NSF spec.. Haha.. Probably I should have tried both schools, but I guess it was the experience that matters the most. :)
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Hi Vince, so it seems you only went thru' BSLC. What about your advanced specialists training? Which specific-arms of service were you in?
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Vince Disel - nice to see that someone is enjoying his National Service.
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Hello Culture counter,
My BSLC was completed in Pulau Tekong in which I was the 2nd last BSLC batch before SISPEC moved to Pasir Laba..
I was in Echo, Eagle 1. After my BSLC, I was posted to Specalist Training Wing in School of Armour. I did my Mortar Commanders Course there.
I won the Best Detachment Award Plague during my stint at School of Armour and was posted to 40 SAR as a vehicle commander.
After my completing my ATEC towards the end of 2006, I reached my my ORD. And in the year 2007, our CO awarded us, NS men then, with the Best Armour Unit Medal :)
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Hello AirForceOne,
Haha.. there were ups and downs during my NS stint but overall a memorable experience. Did you enjoy your NS stint? :)
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National Service is one of those things that even if you hate going through, you can look back at it and smile.
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My Dad was a Major(NS). He was a commissioned officer(1LT) during his NSF days and was promoted to Captain and then to Major during his reservist.
He always told me how tough OCS was then during his time, like they had to cut grass using razor blades. Hahaha.. But I believe SISPEC then was also very tough, if not tougher :P
He was given his tour of different appointments from S2 then to CO. This was before I was enlisted into the army.
He worked in DSTA as a civilian engineer in the Ministry of Defense for more than 30 years after his commissioning.
I guess he was kinda disappointed as he did not see his younger son(me) get commissioned. This was the only regret I had in my NS days.
However, I have the utmost respect for warrant officers and senior specialists.
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I remembered during my time as a SISPEC trainee, we did not have Specialist Cadet Rank (SCT) and we wore coloured epaulettes on our shoulder instead to identify us as SISPEC trainees, and not a recruit. Haha... Those were the days.
And we used to call SISPEC, 'Suffer In Silence Plus Extra Confinement', because it was located in Pulau Tekong then. :)
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This is my SISPEC BSLC photo, taken in 2005 during my NSF days.:) I am in the second row, sixth person from the right. The uncamouflaged soldiers at the centre top were my instructors. Probably you would have heard of Echo Company, it was well-known in SISPEC for its tough and insane trainings.
I'll definitely miss those butt-kicking arduous and insane trainings, and I'll forever remember the high expectations of our OC commando, and the mind games of our commando PC (in this photo) used to instill into our minds :)
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Wow. My SISPEC was at Pasir Laba. Its not nearly as bad as Tekong.
In fact, the way the warrant officers run the show, its so much more efficient than OCS. That way, my coy, E Coy, got nights out at least once a week. The most we had was 3 in one week on consecutive nights.
We even had half day on valentines day, just because the OC feels that young men like us need women in our lives to develop normally. So he asked us to go out with our girlfriends. Those without girlfriends go out and find girls.
Nice.
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Yah...and motto of sispec is with pride we lead, got food we eat, got SOC report sick...
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My peak at SOC was in SISPEC. I got 8mins 12 secs.
This is me showing off.
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Not bad audiophile :)
My SOC is just alright but not sub 8min. Haha. I trained very hard for my IPPT during my NSF days and got a gold.
My standing broad jump was pretty good, I jumped 265cm.
My 2.4km was just ok, sub 9 min if I remember correctly.
I got a perfect score for IPPT too, 30 out of 30. :)
I managed to get a marksmen during my NSF days too.
Probably my most arduous phase during my NSF days was in School of Armour in the specialist training wing. :)
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However the most excruciating pain I had to bear was not in NS, it was my wisom teeth decay. I had to bear the pain for 7 days before the dentisit operated on them. Just imagine 7 days! Hahaha.
The pain constantly brought drops of tears into my eyes, although I it was more of a pain reflex than me wanting to cry. :)
Every night, it was a battle of mind over matter and I had sleepness nights and insane pain.
As I type this now, I am feeling the same pain like before as I have yet another wisdom tooth decay. I have to wait until Monday before the Dentist is avaliable to extract it.
This will be my last wisdom tooth and I can't wait for it to be extracted. :)
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Vince,
Hahd, i didnt know that IPPT can go up to 30 points. I thought it was only 4 static and a run. max is 25 points. :D
My 2.4km is 9.03 at my peak. I could have pushed to try and break that but i didnt really bother to try for another IPPT as i passed for my annual quota already. AHHAA.
My best Jump for SBJ is only 260 though. :) But it is impressive as i'm of the race that usually always fails SBJ. >_<
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Probably I was mistaken with the NAFA test? Haha.
Anyway, I achieved a perfect score for IPPT. My SBJ is always in the 260-265cm range, since my secondary school days. Probably if I made a mistake in my positioning, it would be 255++cm.
In addition, I was an award winner in my specialist training wing and there were only 3 different awards given out for my course. :)
And in my specialist training phase, I always put 'no' to OCS in the evaluation form, probably 3 times during each phase. I was also selected to be the trainee PS and the IC for my specialist and BMT phases. I also put 'no' to OCS in BMT and said I would like to go SISPEC during my PC interview and during my PS interview (PS interview was a special case, it was only for me. haha :))
I hope I'm not trying to seem boastful here, I apologise if I put off any guys here. :)
It would seem like I am full of regrets of not aiming for OCS initially, probably because the recongition given to officers over specialists. The only regret I had in my NS days was that my father didn't watch me being commissioned. :) (And I meant just the commissioning parade).
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haha, its all cool.
I think there's nothing going on in this thread anyway.
Lets start talking about SISPEC again.
Total Shellscrapes dug in SISPEC, 2.5
Firetrench - 0.9 and a half f*** FOPK
I dont think i can even count the number of km covered in route march. i just know that none of my route march and SOCs got cancelled in BSLC cos the weather was fantastic. Cat 1 season was only during BMT.
But it did rain like crazy when we dug fire trench, actually after we were done. So we were tires and feeling like shit, so it decides to rain and my PC says that we will only move out after the rain stops. But in the end we loaded the entrenching stores in the rain and walked back drenched to the shelter, where we got changed before going back to pasir laba. Bloody miserable
But the most toughest momment;
Starlight, 6th night of of Ex Warrior (i think its called warrior, i forget), we had to walk like 20-30km to objective for vehicular embush. It was night, raining like mad, and it was 5 degrees out. We weren't allowed to walk in goretex due to heat injury concerns.
BLOODY MISERABLE LA. Arrived at objective hours early so we sat in the rain at 5 degrees for in excess of an hour. IN THE RAIN!!!!
ahaha worst night of my life.
But fun to look back on.
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Haha Audiophile,
I have similar sentiments of my training in SISPEC. It was during Exercise Nutcracker, where my instructor told me 'this exercise will definitely crack your nuts'.
And as fate would make fun of us, the rain poured down in torrents when we were digging our shellscrapes. The rain was insanely heavy and even the instructors went back to their tents for shelter, whilst we continued our digging. It rained for more than 2 hours. Our shellscrapes were flooded with water and we had to take turns scooping the water out.
And when the soil is muddy, its very difficult to dig the shape of a shellscrape and we had to spent thrice the effort to finish digging. Afterwhich, we had to dig a fire trench.
Our instructor threatened us that if we didn't finish the fire trench before day break, we can forget about going back to camp. Haha... and the camp is in Pulau Tekong. :/
Fortunately my section managed to finish digging the fire trench (after my instructor's numberous rejections of the trench) and got some sleep by taking turns doing duty in the night. However at around 3am while I was sleeping, suddenly I could hear flashes of lights due the trip flares being tripped.
It was followed by screams of 'Contacted! Enemy Ambush!' and then there were loud rifle shots. I immediately proned down in my shellscrape and started firing in the direction of the flashes of the enemy fire. After 45 minutes of intense firing, our trainee 'CSM' (NSF trainee, haha) shouted' Position Over-ran! Retreat to base!'
We had to perform our retreat drill and managed to retreat back to our instructors' tents. Haha.. It turned out that our instructors were the ambush party :/ We were screwed very badly as our standard was not up to par and we lost our position to the enemy. We were given insane punishments and scoldings and we had to hold the barrel of our rifle with our left hand and hold this position for an hour with our hand stretched out straight horizontally. If any of our hands slacked causing the rifle to droop down, we were given extra duties :/
And whilst we were straining to hold the rifle, our instructors would place their hands on our strained hands and scold us right in the face for doing a bad job. Haha...
Those were the crazy days... :)
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Some of you will be glad to know that I led my men through niceness. I never did once punish my men with pushups throughout my NSF days. When they made a mistake, I treated them with dignity and gave them a hard talk.
I would lecture them when they made mistakes, but never with the harshness of a raving madman. I also never did punish them with physical activities. I had devils sergeants and officers in BMT, whom never failed to mete out sadistic punishments .
During my BMT, there was one instructor sergeant from another platoon who always tried to pick on me for no reason, though I suspected he was jealous that everyone gave me the nickname of 'SISPEC' in BMT. This was due to the reason that when my PS asked me in front of everyone in my company whether I was aiming for OCS, I replied 'No, PS. I am actually aiming for SISPEC.' He was surprised and asked me why. I told him that I wanted to be closer to my men as I have seen the officers in BMT quite distant from the men. It is the section leaders that had the most contact with the men individually. They are the ones they go through thick and thin with the men. The reason my PS asked me whether I was aiming for OCS was because I was very active in BMT. I was selected to be the timer, IC and the person who would 'Thiam' the platoon and greet the instructors.
The instructor who always tried to pick on me 'snatched' my rifle from me during outfield and asked me to tell my PC that my rifle got stolen and told me to sign extras from my PC. I gritted my teeth and bore whatever punishments he dished out on me for no reason. Nevertheless, I always greeted him though he ignored me and never did acknowledge my greeting. I didn't bear any grudges against him but, once, I guess he was really touched by my sincerity and acknowledged my greeting.
When I was posted to my unit as a vehicle commander, I saw section leaders screaming insanely at their men. They reminded me of the devils that I once had as instructors in BMT. I knew that I never wanted to become what I hate. I knew that a vicious cycle would form as when recruits get posted to command schools and graduate as commanders, they would do the same to their men as they feel that they should payback to their own men what their instructors did to them in BMT. All this time, they would fail to realise this since they had been consumed by the hatred they had for the system.
When my ORD neared, my men went up to me and shook my hand and said 'Thank you and all the very best for your future endeavours.' I smiled and wished them all the best too. It was a defining moment for me in my NSF days, it was a feeling of triumph, a feeling of elation and a moment of jubilation.
I am really proud with myself that I never became what most 'power-hungry' commanders would become. And I give myself a pat on my shoulder for that. :)
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Originally posted by Audiophile:
Hi,
I am a SISPEC Crossover to OCS. I was awarded the Golden Bayonet in ASLC and Coy Best in BSLC.
In OCS i was nominated for award but i didnt get any. But its alright.
Anyway, honestly, the training in the SAF is generally very safe and noone should really have to be overly concerned for safety matters. Just pay attention to the briefing and pay attention when bullets are flying then you’ll be cool. This is not withstanding if there is a moron around you that does dangerous things ofcourse.
Section Live Firing, Platoon Live Firing are very tame events. The procedure is so set in stone that the likelihood that anything will happen is slim to none. I have done it twice the amount an average commander trainee would have to on account that i have been through SISPEC and OCS and its a really dull affair. I got bored during the second time. Especially since there is a dry rehearsal, then a blank rehearsal and finally a live rehearsal plus another one for night (atleast for SISPEC).
Also, for those wondering, which is tougher, SISPEC is tougher hands down.
I was from one of the most laid back company in SISPEC, and went to one of the toughest wings in OCS but, SISPEC is tougher hands down.
SISPEC is tactical all the way in the outfield. Meaning when you go outfield training, the moment you get out of the tonner, you’ve got to behave as in you are in the enemy can be around. Totally no nonsense. You only get a break when it is all over. The longest i have had to endure this was in taiwan for a continuous 7 days.
This means that even when its time to sleep, you have to maintain the alert ratio as per ordered. usually 50:50. This was even during the rain (the temperature was 5 degrees that night) and we still had to carry on with the mission. It was the single most physically and mentally toughest things i had to go through in the Army.In OCS, its alot of symbolic and theatrical bullshit. I am not saying that i am ashamed to be an officer. But OCS doesn’t do training like SISPEC does.
In OCS’s toughest experince for me, was in taiwan (again, though in the summer now), it was a 5 day exercise, but in between mission we can have a tactical break (that means you can just chill) at one point we were sleeping on top of an open hill with all our equipments scattered around me. I’m not especially proud of this, but if you’re in rome.I just get a little upset when officers behave like they are better than specialists. Cos the truth of the matter is that the best specialist is better than every other officer. And officers like to brag about going through the tough trainings of OCS, without knowing that SISPEC is tough too, and much more so.
Cheers.
i am a cross over too.. from BSLC to OCS. i was not a coy/platoon best in SISPEC but still cross over. strange huh? anyway, i find that OCS is tougher than SISPEC. OCS is tougher mentally, while SISPEC is physical. just my 2cents. -
Originally posted by saline:
i am a cross over too.. from BSLC to OCS. i was not a coy/platoon best in SISPEC but still cross over. strange huh? anyway, i find that OCS is tougher than SISPEC. OCS is tougher mentally, while SISPEC is physical. just my 2cents.Really? OCS was tougher? Which Coy in SISPEC and which wing in OCS.
Anyway, my platoon mate that crossed over in BSLC was not an award winner too. But you could see that he was different than the other trainees in BSLC. Different in a good way.